Capital murder defendant acquitted of setting man on fire

By Craig Kapitan |
August 27, 2013
| Updated: August 27, 2013 10:53pm

Defendant Juan Robles weeps Tuesday after being found not guilty of capital attempted murder. He was accused of robbing a man and setting him on fire with gasoline. Five eyewitnesses were the victim's original attackers.

More Information

Jurors on Tuesday acquitted a San Antonio man who could have faced up to life in prison for allegations he robbed a stranger then set him on fire.

Juan Jesus Robles, 38, placed his hands over his face and began to sob after state District Judge Raymond Angelini read the not guilty verdict following two hours of jury deliberations, bringing an end to the attempted capital murder trial.

Richard Rodriguez Jr., who testified that he has no memory of the January 2012 incident, sat silently in a wheelchair in the front row of the courtroom — his arms and neck still covered in bandages.

Rodriguez spent seven months at the San Antonio Army Medical Center recovering from burns to more than 85 percent of his body and still attends daily physical therapy, prosecutors said. Having undergone 46 skin grafts and surgeries, with more still on the horizon, he was again in the hospital last week when Robles' trial began.

Rodriguez declined to comment on the verdict as he left the courtroom.

“He absolutely did not deserve to get burned in the street like that,” defense attorney Ernest Acevedo told jurors during closing arguments. “The only thing that can make this tragedy worse is if we send an innocent man to prison.”

Rodriguez was walking by the Alazan-Apache Courts west of downtown with a gas can in his hand and mumbling to himself when he attracted the attention of a group of men who had been drinking outside the public housing complex, authorities have contended.

After words were exchanged, the group beat Rodriguez up, kicking him after he fell to the ground, two of the men acknowledged on the witness stand. But they then walked away, each witness said.

That's when Robles walked up to Rodriguez, rifled through his pockets and set him ablaze , prosecutors David Lunan and Daryl Harris contended.

“They all said (Robles) did it,” Harris said of the five eyewitnesses.

But it makes no sense that the attackers would walk away and someone who had nothing to do with the fight would step in to commit an act so horrendous for seemingly no reason, defense attorneys Acevedo and Kristina Escalona responded. The original attackers are the ones who should have been the primary suspects, the defense argued.

They later were given immunity agreements in exchange for their testimony.

“These immunity agreements are a slap in the face to what really happened,” Escalona said.